


All The Traveled Roads

by PanBoleyn



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Multiple Crossovers, referenced Mike/Rachel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2014-10-02
Packaged: 2017-12-23 13:04:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 7,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/926777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanBoleyn/pseuds/PanBoleyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of all my ficlets and comment!fic for Suits, for the most part previously posted on my Tumblr account.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kamikaze Airplanes

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Спокойный вечер](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4588161) by [SittZubeida](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SittZubeida/pseuds/SittZubeida)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike knows falling in line with Jessica is the smart thing, but he just can't do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I originally posted this to tumblr, I called an open field for anyone who wanted to expand on it - I wanted to, but had no idea what Harvey's reaction to Jessica's plan would be. I still don't know, so opening the field again to anyone interested. :)

Mike doesn’t really remember the ride home, though he thinks he nearly got run over. Twice. But after what Jessica said to him… He lets himself into his apartment and sinks onto the couch, head in his hands. What the fuck is he going to do?

Okay. Best case scenario if he falls in line with Jessica. He manages to convince Harvey he had no choice, and things carry on. Except he’ll have proven he’s not strong enough to be relied on. At best. Far more likely, Mike loses his job when Harvey fires him, or he keeps his job but doesn’t work for/with Harvey anymore.

And if he defies Jessica and tells Harvey… At any other time, easy choice. He’d do it. But right now, Harvey isn’t Harvey. He’s crossing every line he has to stop this merger, he’s almost crazy with it.

And Mike remembers Harvey saying he wouldn’t stick his neck out for Mike again. Granted, that was more ‘if you fuck up again I’ll let you drown’ than anything, and Mike deserved it. But still, is he really going to take a loss like this for Mike’s sake? And while there’s a slim chance he might, if Harvey decides Jessica is bluffing, or confronts her over getting involved when she agreed not to, Mike is screwed. Jessica will have him in lockup so fast his head will spin, and the backlash might even take Harvey down with him. Because the DA isn’t likely to buy that Harvey didn’t know Mike was a fake; at best he looks like an idiot rather than a co-conspirator.

When Mike looks at it like that, the choice seems clear. Do what Jessica wants. And yet. Mike is going to lose Rachel over the Harvard thing, unless he pulls off a minor miracle. Grammy’s dead, Trevor and Jenny are gone. Harvey is all Mike has, and even in the best-case scenario where he falls in line with Jessica, he loses him too.

Siding with Jessica is the wise course. But Mike’s been riding around for hours (that he does recall), it’s after midnight, he’s tired and on the verge of freaking the fuck out. In short, he’s not feeling all that sensible.

Before he can change his mind, he gets his bike and drags it downstairs, heading for the Upper West Side. By the time he gets to Harvey’s building, it’s nearly two, and Mike almost loses his nerve when he gets to Harvey’s door. But he rings the bell anyway, and soon enough Harvey opens it, looking half-asleep and pissed off.

"What the fuck are you doing here at this time of night? Don’t you have to file that motion by nine AM?"

Mike takes a deep breath. “Yeah. About that. We have a problem.”


	2. Two Years' Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's two years later when Mike sees Harvey again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally written to go with this photo: http://sexyabach.tumblr.com/post/48708577839/patrick-j-adams-by-luke-wooden

It’s two years later when Mike sees Harvey again. No surprise, really, New York is the biggest city in the world (or close enough) that it’s easy enough not to cross paths with someone unless you want to. And Mike hasn’t been in Manhattan too much since he left. Left before he found himself fired or otherwise pushed out. 

November’s here and Mike’s just walked out of a meeting with his literary agent. He finished a book last year - eidetic memory made research for historical fiction that much easier, so he tried his hand at it. And what do you know, there’s a market for it and now book 2 will be hitting shelves next month. It’s a bit warm for the month, so his peacoat is open, showing the suit and tie he rarely dons these days.

He glances across the street as he pauses to dig out his lighter, having picked up an unfortunate smoking habit. It slips from his fingers, back into his pocket, when he meets a familiar pair of dark eyes. And Mike isn’t going to approach, or do anything but nod, because the last time he saw Harvey is still burned in his mind. The way he’d looked at Mike, like he hated him, it… 

Mike is just going to turn and leave, to run like he freely admits he did before. He isn’t expecting his phone to buzz when he does just that, and maybe he should have changed his number but he hasn’t.

**You’re kidding, right?**

Mike narrows his eyes at the message, and turns in time to see Harvey crossing the street. “I didn’t figure you’d want to chat,” Mike says with a casualness he doesn’t feel.

"No? It’s been two years. Donna has your book, you know. So does the idiot I got stuck with after you - I caught him reading it when he was supposed to be proofing briefs."

"Well, I’m sorry to inconvenience you, though I can’t be blamed if he finds Ancient Rome more interesting than legalese." Mike toys with the lighter in his pocket, and considers his options. "Did you want something? ‘Cause I know you well enough to know you don’t usually have -"

"I wanted to know if you were free for a drink on Friday. There’s a lot left unresolved here."

 _Wait, what?_ “You’re kidding me. It’s been two years, Harvey. And you’ve had my number all this time if you wanted to resolve things.” He says this, but at the same time he’s already thinking. All he had planned for Friday was writing, or maybe a break for a movie marathon. Nothing he can’t do later, anyway. Damn it. He shouldn’t be willing to just fall in anymore, what the hell?

"Meet me Friday and I’ll tell you why not sooner."

It’s a bad idea, but Mike shrugs. “Sure, why not? You’re buying, by the way.” And this time he does leave, and surprisingly Harvey lets him. He’s  not at all sure why he just did that, but then again, that’s pretty much how it’s always been when Harvey’s involved, isn’t it? 


	3. Closing a Publisher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike can't do this. Harvey disagrees, though he has to give Mike hell first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally written for a picture posted by gmacht on tumblr - I can't find the link, for some reason.

"I can’t do this."

Harvey sighs, leaning back in his chair, the picture of relaxation in contrast to the edgy nervousness in Mike’s voice. “After almost two years working for me, I think I should be insulted that you don’t think you can close a publisher.”

"This is different, Harvey."

"How is that? You’ve gotta convince this guy to take you on, it’s no different than convincing someone to do what you want so you win. And, hey, you don’t have a briefcase full of pot this time."

"I didn’t do so bad when I did; maybe it’s my good luck charm."

"Oh, please."

"Hey, you never know."

"Whatever. Listen carefully, because I’m only gonna say this once. You’re good at this writing thing of yours."

"You mocked me endlessly for quitting at the firm to do it," Mike says, sounding skeptical.

"Because you left ‘for us’ like we were in some cheesy rom-com. But I’ve read your damn book. It’s good, even if your spymaster lead is totally unoriginal."

"Oh, for… Brynden is not based on you, you arrogant bastard, and he’s far from the only lead." Mike’s trying to sound exasperated - this is an old argument, and for all the denials Harvey knows he’s right - but he’s laughing, even if he tries to hide it.

"Arrogant bastard, huh? I can hang up, you know. I do have other things to do than talk you through a panic attack."

"Yeah, yeah, I’m an idiot."

"Yep. But you’re my idiot, so it’s forgivable."

Mike scoffs. “Gee, thanks, Harvey, I love you too.” Behind the snark, though, there’s the same affection in both their voices. “Oh, here comes Stanhope, I’ve gotta go.”

"Hey. All teasing aside, Mike. You’ll do fine."

"Thanks. See you tonight."


	4. Such Selfish Prayers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike's not naive enough to think everything's really fixed now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was written in a rush after 3.02, when I still did not trust Harvey at all. Consider this my venting that mistrust in fic - I was glad to be off the mark on this one, believe me.

The truth is, even when they’re high-fiving and Mike’s grinning, he doesn’t really buy it. Because here’s the thing. Harvey, and Donna too, for that matter, assumed the worst of his motives, and while he doesn’t entirely blame them… He’d like to think, if the roles were reversed, he’d at least have listened, been willing to get the whole damn story. 

Mike won’t say he wasn’t wrong. But the thing is, he had no good choices, and he picked the one that seemed like it would let them all stay standing. Knocked around and bruised a bit, but able to get back up again. That’s better than being down for the fucking count, isn’t it? 

It turns out he’s a bit angry himself. A bit resentful, maybe. And a whole hell of a lot warier than he’s ever been before. Of everyone. But especially, especially Harvey.

Because Harvey offered a high-five. The kind of thing Mike’s been trying to get out of him since the beginning. In other words, exactly the kind of move designed perfectly to get Mike to do what he wants. It’s been only a couple of days since Harvey said they were done. And now he’s up for the kind of childish gesture he almost never went for even when he and Mike were at their closest?

Yeah right. Mike’s not as naive as he was; becoming the pawn between the knight and the queen (to use chess metaphors) has taught him something. Basically, that he can’t really trust anyone in this world he’s an illicit member of. Especially not people playing for the top roles in it. 

He’s not sure why, exactly, Harvey’s decided to take him back. Oh, he’s probably forgiven Mike to a degree; Harvey isn’t one to work with someone he hates. But if Mike’s supposed to think things are back to normal, well, he doesn’t. He’s sure he’ll have to earn his way back to where they were, and to some point that’s fair enough. But Mike’s sure there’s more to it. He doesn’t know if Harvey didn’t like someone else playing with his toys, or maybe he just thinks Mike has yet to outlive his usefulness.

Whatever it is, Mike doesn’t think this is really about Harvey forgiving him. That’s fine by him; he’s at least allowed back now, which means he has a chance to fix things. Everyone else has an angle and this is his. It’s all lies and mind games and thinking about it he almost wishes he’d stuck with Louis, because he’s starting to think Louis is the closest to genuine he can find around here. But he couldn’t, because Harvey…

Mike’s never looked too closely at just what Harvey is to him, because that way lies madness and he just won’t do that to himself. But the fact of the matter is, he’ll take this false version of their dynamic over any other choice, even healthier ones, any day, if it’s the only way he can get Harvey back for now. Even if he feels guilty about it. It’s pathetic, and he knows it, but he’s trying to take advantage of the chance it’s offering so that it’s eventually less pathetic.

But he is never,  _never_   going to forget that he’s disposable to anyone if it proves necessary for them, that he can be turned into a pawn or a ping-pong ball at a moment’s notice. That’s what got him into this mess in the first place, forgetting that. Or not realizing it in the first place, actually. 

Well. He knows better now. And one of these days, he’s probably going to be sick of it, and maybe that day he’ll just leave, vanish like he was never there at all and in all honesty he thinks most everyone will be relieved. But he’s not ready to quit just yet. So for now he’ll play. 

Because if he doesn’t, he’ll be just another game piece, and he is sick to death of  _that_.


	5. Downtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and Harvey have a quiet night after the week from hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for shannonhutchins on tumblr for her birthday. :)

It’s been a helllish week, dealing with the Arryn kids fighting over Daddy’s companies, writing up the Wyatt-Halliwell prenup (the happy couple is great, but wow, their families are a bunch of assholes), and trying to talk Ned Seymour out of his hostile takeover plans. And, to make it all worse, Donna’s on vacation this week, which means temps. Which, in this case, means Cameron the Temp, he of the color-coding and folder-fanning and flowers. 

Mike’s pretty sure Jessica did it on purpose, which means Harvey must have pissed her off somehow. Not that Harvey’s admitting to anything, of course.

Mike won’t ask outright either, because it’s Friday night and they both need to unwind. They called out for Chinese, and the leftovers are stored in the fridge as Harvey and Mike settle on the couch. Harvey turns on a baseball game - inter-league play, Yankes vs. Phillies. Mike, of course, can’t watch a Yankees game on principle, so he curls up next to Harvey with a book.

"I can’t believe you’re reading instead of watching the best team in baseball," Harvey says during a commercial break, whacking Mike’s shoulder with a throw pillow. Mike marks his place in his books and throws Harvey a mischievous grin.

"Yeah, through buying their way to the name," he scoffs, before returning to _So You Want To Be A Wizard_. 

"I’m dating a Red Sox fan. How did I fall so low?"

" _I’m_ dating a Yankees fan. It’s practically a crime against the state."

Harvey raises his eyebrows. “Just remember what state you live in, idiot. How the hell’d you end up being a Red Sox fan anyway?”

Mike shrugs, closing his book this time and leaning into Harvey a little. “Dad only cared about the Army football team, and Mom was from Boston. Since we moved around, I got into her team.”

"That’s right, you’re an Army brat. You’re so bad at doing what you’re told that I forgot."

Mike rolls his eyes. “Army kids tend to go military themselves or get as far away from it as they can.”

"Which explains you."

"You like me how I am, you just don’t want to admit it," Mike informs him. Harvey rolls his eyes, plucking Mike’s book from his hands. 

"I might change my mind - is this a kids’ book? How old are you again?"

"It’s an old favorite. Like - mental comfort food," Mike says, trying to get his book back. Harvey holds it out of his reach, and stretching for it Mike loses his balance and ends up sprawled across the other man’s lap instead. He blinks up at Harvey, unimpressed. "Playing keep away? Now who’s the kid?"

"Still you," Harvey says, but his voice is fond, and he takes to carding his fingers through Mike’s hair. The game comes back on, and Harvey mutters something under his breath in disgust when the Yankees lose the lead. Mike sits up, snickering, but almost immediately finds himself down again. He’s on his back, pinned against the cushions with Harvey mock-scowling at him.

"Quiet, Red Sox boy."

"Shut me up then, Yankee."

Mike forgets all about his book, but then, Harvey forgets about the baseball game, so it all works out.


	6. The Sound of Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To hell with them all if this is the end. Mike isn't going to beg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a crossover with the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane.

He regrets it almost immediately. And so, after it’s done, when he and Rachel are composing themselves, he murmurs a few words in the Speech. It’s probably minor abuse of his power, but… He wanted to tell her because he decided to, not because the words were torn from him in a desperate moment. She turns to him and says, “Don’t think this means anything. I’m still finished with you.”

He’s expecting it, but it still feels like she’s taken a knife to him, because Rachel was literally the last person he had. She leaves, and he’s left alone, wondering if he should have just let her remember. It probably won’t matter, because he doubts he’ll have this job that much longer, but… In case it does.

When Mike leaves, he doesn’t go home. Or he does, long enough to put away his bike, and then he walks the city. It’s stupid, but he doesn’t care. He walks, and listens to the plants and the rocks and even the wind whisper to each other, the voices most people will never know are there. He thinks about Rachel, about how he’s probably wasted his last chance at even friendship with her. He thinks about Harvey, and how he’s lost him as well, probably for good. He thinks about the way they both looked at him, and he thinks about how Jessica used him like the pawn he’d forgotten he was. 

And then, suddenly, he’s angry. Because what the fuck else was he supposed to do? Trust his secret to a girl he cares for, but who he can’t seem to make it work with? Tell Harvey what had happened, when he was so determined to win that Mike wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have just said to file the fucking motion anyway? How the hell did he become a pawn, when he remembers seeing other universes, when he can hear the voices of the world around him? 

He’s not a very good wizard. He still has his magic, but it hangs by a thread, thanks to his years spent in a pot-induced haze. But whatever happens, he still has that. And even if he didn’t… He did the best he could, with what he had. So. He’s not going to beg forgiveness, plead for another chance. Not from Rachel, not from Harvey. He’s not going to beg anyone for anything ever again, because he isn’t sure he was wrong. And if he was wrong, he wasn’t the only one. 

To hell with it, and to hell with them. 


	7. The Language of Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mike owns a flower shop and Harvey is one of his customers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for a florist!AU three sentence fic prompt. Yes, originally this was three very long run-on sentences.

The first time Harvey came in, he needed flowers for Donna and Jessica, and he didn’t want traditional. So Mike made him describe both women and he picked bouquets that described them (calla lilies and alstroemeria for Jessica; gladiolus and purple iris for Donna).

From then on, on the occasions where Harvey needs flowers, he comes back to the tiny shop, Bud ‘n Bloom. That first time was over a year ago now and since then their conversations have ranged way past the “right flowers for the person” to movies and law (Mike apparently was going to be a lawyer at one point and won’t say why he isn’t) to… basically everything under the sun.

So Harvey isn’t really surprised when, today, Mike gives him an extra little bouquet on the house, though he does look up the meanings as soon as he can. And when he realizes what the purple lilac and holly means, he knows the next time he stops in won’t be for flowers at all, because he has things to say and he’s better with spoken words than flowers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jessica’s bouquet: Calla lilies mean magnificence and beauty; alstroemeria for loyalty and prosperity
> 
> Donna’s bouquet: Irises mean courage and wisdom; gladiolus is strength of character and faithfulness
> 
> Harvey’s bouquet: Purple lilac means early feelings of love, holly means hope


	8. The Joke Seems To Be On Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a simple moment when Mike realizes, simple and yet it changes everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written to go with this picture, originally posted by tumblr user gmact, I believe. 
> 
> http://24.media.tumblr.com/6c51355145616e2cb196dd9534d8fbfb/tumblr_mrnztpNchB1r0a7vso1_r1_500.png

When it hits Mike - really hits him - it’s random. Almost stupid, really. They’re coming back from meeting with a client, and Harvey’s flipping through some paperwork on his desk as Mike steps through the office doorway. But Harvey mutters “This deal keeps getting worse all the time,” and Mike, well - 

They quote at each other all the time, and it’s not the first time Harvey’s used a Star Wars line. But Harvey isn’t quoting at him, in one of their back-and-forths that is as much a challenge as anything else. Mike’s not even sure Harvey noticed he said it out loud. And there’s something funny about the idea of Harvey the closet sci-fi geek (which he totally is, even if he’s primarily a Trekkie Mike is convinced Harvey likes a lot more than that).

Something funny, and, unfortunately for Mike, endearing as well. Unfortunately for Mike, it’s endearing enough to trigger a revelation that feels like it ought to send him physically reeling.

It’s not like it’s news that he’s attracted to his boss. He has been from the beginning, but attraction isn’t something that needs to be acted on. For someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, Mike can hide attraction when he really has to - living around Trevor and then Trevor  _and_  Jenny taught him that the hard way. He can hide attraction and he can mostly hide deeper feelings. 

Except when he first realizes he has them. Mike’s grateful that Harvey isn’t looking his way, because he can only imagine the expression on his face right now. Wide-eyed, stunned, and probably not happy, if he has to guess. Because attraction is one thing. That goes away eventually, and doesn’t really hurt if it isn’t returned.

But somewhere along the line, Mike fell for Harvey and didn’t notice until now. And that is a very different thing. Because it’s impossible. Even if Harvey’s not straight, it’s impossible. There’s the power imbalance work-wise, and the simple fact that they’re in totally different leagues, not to mention the fact that Mike isn’t entirely sure Harvey likes him half the time for all he insists that the man cares.

Mike closes his eyes, takes a breath, and tells himself this is just like watching Trevor and Jenny, not sure whether he wanted one of them or just to be part of what they had together, just knowing that he _wanted_ , desperately and impossibly. Nobody can know, this is his secret, even more secret than the truth about his ‘degree’. He catches his breath and by the time Harvey looks his way again, Mike’s back to normal.

Because he wears his heart on his sleeve partly so that the things he can’t risk showing are hidden by everything else. And he cannot risk this, because it would shatter everything in his life. Harvey  _gave_  him this life, if he messes things up with Harvey then the rest will collapse in moments.

And if Harvey finds out, what other outcome than a terrible mess is there?


	9. Sleeping With Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike has a Shade. Tiny snippet of a post-s2 Inception crossover idea I had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you happen to have once belonged to the A Shared Dream Inception RP on LiveJournal, yes, Bianca and Anya are the ones from there, because I played as them back in the day. Ah, good times. ;)

Mike walks out of Pearson Hardman the day the merger goes through, Harvey's words a terrible echo in his head, and he doesn't come back. He can't come back, not and face the look of hate in Harvey's eyes again. He simply can't. 

So he calls up an old friend, and in a month's time he's living in Alexandria, spending each day hooked up to an IV in dreams like reality, or doing research on their latest target. A life of crime, but at least dreamshare is more interesting than taking tests for people, at least it isn't living a lie like practicing law without any credentials. Anya and Bianca might make him feel like a third wheel sometimes, but all in all it's not so bad. Maybe he can find himself in layers of dreams, maybe he can do what he's never been able to do and forget what he's left behind. Even if his name is Jamie Harper now and not Mike Ross.

Or maybe not. 

"What the fuck was that?" Anya yanks out the line and sits up, glaring at Mike.

Mike, for his part, just shakes his head. "Well," Bianca comments, her Italian lilt stronger than usual, "it’s a good thing we have experience in erasing shades. Do tell us, Jamie, who was that? Attractive sort, if he wasn’t trying to kill us. The real one that vicious with a gun?"

"Never used one so far as I know. Look, can we talk about this later?" Mike asks, getting up and heading for the door.

"No, we will be talking about this n-" Anya’s voice is cut off as Mike walks out, shutting the door behind him. He shoves his hands in his pockets and starts walking.

Alexandria is still unfamiliar to him, but right now that’s a comfort. He can lose himself in the city for a while and not think about the fact that he can’t escape Harvey looking at him like he hates him after all. The worst part is how the shade with a gun actually hurts him _less_.


	10. I Guess I'll Let You Know (When I Figure It Out)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harvey and Scottie have brought people home for the night before, but this is a little different.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this](http://itsclicheiknow.tumblr.com/post/62218553871/suits-meets-how-i-met-your-mother-and-the-princess%E2%80%9C%E2%80%9D) graphic. Also ended up being an AU of my Air Force AU

Scottie rolls her eyes. “Then why didn’t you just say that instead of the ocean thing? Harvey, you’re a lawyer, not a poet. Obviously - that wasn’t very good.” 

Harvey puts the second plate in the sink and shrugs. “I like to annoy you,” he says with an innocent look. 

"Of course you do. And I’ve seen the kid too; he’s cute, but really, Harvey, we can’t go seducing your associate, we have rules about that even if the firm doesn’t, remember? And I’m pretty sure an ex-flyboy won’t date his boss anyway, don’t they have frat regs?"

Harvey practically pouts at her. “We could bend the rules just this once, and between the two of us, I’m sure we can convince him.” He picks up his wine glass and drains it; Scottie toys with hers, thinking.

"Tell you what," she says, because unlike the last couple people who’ve caught their eye, Harvey actually likes Mike personally, instead of just thinking he’s attractive. That’s a little different than what they typically do when involving a third party, though not something they’ve ever ruled out. "Lend him to me for the Martell-Tully merger? That way I can get to know him a little, then we’ll decide what to do next."

"And what am I supposed to do when you’re taking my associate? The others are useless. Speaking of, why hasn’t Jessica made you hire one?"

"She will, once I’m done the merger. And take it or leave it, Specter."

Harvey sighs. “All right, fine.”

At first glance, Scottie thinks Mike is another Harvey, and fully intends to tease her lover later for his interest in someone so like himself. Then again, she’s a similar personality type too. And there  _is_  something about this kid with the limp and the law library in his head, she can’t deny that.

And he does have very nice eyes.

Well, shit. Looks like their rule might be going out the window after all.

—-

Mike has no idea why he’s been lent out to Dana Scott - “Call me Scottie”, she tells him within the first five minutes. He knows Scottie and Harvey are an item, knows that Scottie is the only senior partner without an associate at the moment, but that doesn’t really answer his question.

He’s got bigger problems anyway. Because Scottie is sharp, and she’s funny, and in some ways she’s actually easier to work with than Harvey. She’s definitely a little more willing to acknowledge work well done for one thing. And Mike would have to be a blind man not to see she’s gorgeous.

This is bad. Because he’s already got a thing for his taken, out-of-his-league-anyway boss. The last thing he needs is to develop a second crush on said boss’ equally unavailable, out of Mike’s league girlfriend. Both of whom are senior partners and way, way above Mike’s lowly rookie associate level. That just makes it _worse_.

He doesn’t tell his friends about this, though it might be nice to vent to Anya or maybe Jules. Trouble is, they’d both laugh their asses off at him. And Donna’s giving him these funny looks like his pathetic schoolboy thoughts are getting more obvious by the day. If she says anything to either of them…

Yep. He’s screwed.


	11. Like A Lonely Highway, I'm Trying to Get Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donna, Harvey, and Mike, accidental sleepovers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of a larger OT3 verse I had meant to write but couldn't make work. Written before season 3 aired.

They've never done this before, gone out and celebrated together, but what the hell. Donna's not one to turn down a free meal and it might help get things back on balance. Mike seems startled to be invited, and Donna thinks he's more likely than she is to say no, but he doesn't, and so she, Harvey, and Mike end up in a corner booth in one of Midtown's nicest restaurants.

Donna gets to tease them both about their orders; Harvey for lack of originality (she knows his takeout orders, all of them, and fancy or lowbrow they follow a theme and he's sticking right to it) and Mike for managing to find a burger to order (one with ridiculous toppings and roll type because of where they are, but still). She herself, while not a foodie like Rachel, likes to try new things, which gives her full right to mock them both. Not that she wouldn't anyway, but at least she's not a hypocrite about it. There's a bottle of red wine - they are, after all, celebrating the defeat of Allison Holt - and by the time dessert rolls around, all three of them are a bit tipsy.

Donna's pretty sure Harvey is the closest to being outright drunk and Mike the furthest, which is odd. She'd probably know why it makes sense if she weren't somewhere between them on the drunk scale, but as it is... Anyway, she knows for sure she's right about Harvey when he invites her and Mike back to the condo for a nightcap. The invitation is more innocent than it seems, but even so, how they got from the back of the town car to being sprawled across Harvey's couch watching The Mummy of all things is... kind of a blur. The drinking game they're playing with a bottle of scotch and three shot glasses isn't helping.

Donna wakes up to see that the cable box clock says it's 2:41 am, and she's tangled on the couch with both the boys. Harvey's sprawled out and Mike's curled into one corner, and she's caught between them. She also happens to know Harvey has a big enough bed that they don't have to squish up here, no guest room, and she's still far enough away from sober to think a move is a brilliant idea.

So she wakes Harvey with a few shakes to his shoulder, and Mike with a touch - light sleeper, apparently. Both of them blink at her with eyes only half-focused, and she prods them toward the bedroom. "Isn't this my house?" Harvey wants to know, more plaintive than annoyed.

"So?" Donna replies, pushing Harvey so that he topples onto the bed and climbing on after him. She snags Mike's wrist, since he looks about to flee, and tugs him down as well. Harvey grumbles about not wanting to share, but he's falling asleep again already. Mike's already out, curled up again, and Donna grins before settling down herself. There's just something she likes about this, her and the boys together this way.

***

Harvey wakes up in the middle of the night to find two people in bed with him. It isn't the first time, though usually there are less clothes involved...

His face is pressed into long, soft hair, and he draws back just enough to look at the woman he's tangled up with, the city lights shining dimly through a gap in his curtains enough to see it's Donna. He smiles faintly; this is familiar, even if it only happened once. And this isn’t that, this is much more innocent but somehow even more personal for all that. He shifts a bit closer to her, still enough out of it that he doesn't curb the impulse.

A rustle behind him makes him look over to see Mike curled near the edge of the bed. The hell is he over there for, does he want to fall off? Harvey reaches over, getting an arm around Mike's waist and tugging him closer. So he doesn't fall off. Though somehow he doesn't mind when Mike curls into his side.

He blames being half awake for that. For more than that. Because having them both here, it feels right somehow. He likes the spicy smell of Donna's shampoo and how it feels to be tangled up with her, likes Mike's warmth at his side, the way he's curled against him.

 **  
**It's got to be his sleepy brain telling him that he needs this, them, more than anything.

 

***

 

The pounding headache when Mike wakes isn't much of a surprise. He often wakes up with a headache, either from drinking or usually because he fell asleep with one. What is a surprise, is the fact that he knows these are not his sheets, and without opening his eyes he can feel that there's two other people sleeping in the same bed he's in. However, he has most of his clothes on – by most, he means his shirt and pants and for some reason his socks – and except for the effects of sleeping in them after a day wearing them, they don't feel dirty. So... He didn't do anything, which is probably a good thing.

He cracks his eyes open and realizes that, no, he didn't dream up the last things he remembers. (He does that sometimes, and his memory can, on occasion, make it tricky to differentiate because his mind remembers dream details as easily as real ones. Usually it only takes until he remembers an impossible detail to figure out which is which.) Because he knows the arm around his waist, and that red hair he can barely see over on the other end of the bed. Also, he's been in Harvey's condo before, if not the bedroom, so he recognizes the view even if it is from a slightly different angle.

He, Harvey, and Donna seem to have ended up in a puppy pile on Harvey's bed. Mike remembers how they got to the condo - a decision to go out for drinks, the three of them, for the first time ever, actually. He remembers that they all had a little more to drink than was wise, but that Harvey told them to come up for a nightcap anyway. Or maybe it had been to sober up, even if he hadn’t said that. Except he’d offered them scotch, so probably not.

And after that it gets a little fuzzy. Mike's pretty sure they watched a movie on the couch – he thinks he remembers Donna throwing popcorn at his head, or maybe she threw it at Harvey? Actually, it's Donna, so she probably threw it at both of them. Thing is, he's pretty sure he conked out on the couch, so how they ended up here is a bit of a mystery. He thinks he remembers hearing Donna mutter something about no sleeping on couches, but he doesn't think he was fully conscious for that bit.

 **  
**In any case, he's not going back to sleep now and he knows it, so he carefully extricates himself, thankfully managing not to wake the other two up. He has no idea how either of them would react to an eight a.m. wake-up call on Saturday morning after getting pretty blitzed the night before, and he doesn't want to find out.

 

What he does want, after a detour to the bathroom, is coffee. He desperately needs coffee. And Advil. But mostly coffee. Of course, Harvey's coffeemaker is some kind of super-expensive, super-fancy machine that takes more brainpower than Mike currently has to work out. So, he hunts down Advil, dry-swallows two, and sticks his head under the tap for a minute until the cold water shocks his brain into functioning. Then he goes into battle with the coffeemaker.

It's not as hard as it looks, but it seems slower than Mike's cheap one – maybe the slower brew makes better-tasting coffee or some such shit. Point is, it gives Mike time to think as he sits there and watches it drip. That isn't good. Because he finds he's thinking about coffee, about Harvey's mischievous smirk when he steals Mike's, about Donna's warm grin when Mike gets her a latte. He can’t help but remember that he stopped evading Harvey’s coffee thieving ways by use of flavored creamer, because he missed that smirk. How at some point he started bringing Donna coffee to see that smile, rather than as a bribe.

He thinks about last night, about how for the first time since his grandmother died, in some ways for the first time in even longer, he felt at ease, like he was in the right place.

He's thinking about the relaxed banter and the tipsy argument about movies here at the condo. Thinking about how the gel was coming out of Harvey's hair and Donna tugged hers up into a bouncy ponytail to get it out of the way. He remembers his fingers itching to touch, both times, and that while at the time he thought it was just his overly-tactile drunk self, in the light of day he still thinks he'd want that. Hell, in the light of this particular day, he has to admit it’s not the first time that kind of thought has crossed his mind, and usually without the excuse of alcohol.

He's thinking... He's thinking that he knows this feeling, that it's something he should have seen coming a long time ago. He's thinking that it's entirely possible that somewhere between secrets and lessons and banter and everything almost falling apart around them, he might, possibly, have been falling without knowing it. He knew, with Rachel, knew the flash-bang of it, not too unlike with Jenny. But this, he knows this too. The quiet sort of thing that sneaks up on you, because it's why he had so much trouble letting go of Trevor. Because it was like that with him.

And, just as hopeless as it is now. So basically, what Mike's thinking is that Harvey and Donna are both asleep in the other room, he is possibly half in love with both of them, and he's in trouble.

 


	12. New York State of Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The glass is going to take getting used to, but Mike's glad to be back in his home city, and to be working with old friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a full story, but an excerpt from a Mike/Harvey/Scottie piece I've been tinkering with off and on for ages, in a verse where Mike was skipped up several times in school, with the end result that he was eighteen in law school, at Harvard at the same time as Harvey and Scottie. Posting this now mostly to see if the verse would gain any interest.

It was going to take a while to get used to all this _glass_ , Mike decided as he set a photo frame on his new desk. Sure, he’d seen it before, coming by when Harvey wanted to show off his ridiculously large office, but even so. He leaned against the desk and studied the name on his closed door, the letters backward but as they spelled out his own name and ‘junior partner’, they weren’t hard to read.

It felt weird, to be here, at the newly-dubbed Pearson Specter, back in New York. Not at Parris and Associates - or Parris and Parris, now - in San Francisco. But, well, things happened, and he wasn’t complaining. Besides, he wasn’t the only new hire - it was going to be just like old times, and that would be fun.

He left his office and after a quick detour outside the building to the coffeeshop across the street, headed for Harvey’s office. He wasn’t there, but Donna was, as usual, at her desk. Mike set a cup of coffee down next to her hand. “Need a caffeine boost?”

“I wondered when you were going to show up. I like the new glasses.”

Mike pushed the black-framed glasses up a little; they’d been sliding down. “Thanks. You knew my first day was today?” He shouldn’t be surprised, but what with the drama he’d heard about from both Harvey and Scottie’s latest e-mails, he hadn’t expected Donna to be paying as much attention to gossip as usual.

“Michael. I knew the day Jessica met you for drinks to headhunt you. Of course I knew this would be your first day.”

Mike grinned. “You didn’t tell him, I hope?”

“Now, why would I do that? I want to see his face as much as you do. Head in and wait,” Donna said with an evil little smirk. Mike laughed.

“You’re my favorite and this is why.”

“I’m everyone’s favorite!” Donna called back.

Mike passed the time waiting for Harvey to get back by tossing one of his autographed baseballs up in the air, absently humming one of the ‘Game of Thrones’ themed songs his old officemate had been e-mailing him all week. Something about black swords and kisses and wives. But he fell silent when he heard Donna say, “Oh, and there’s someone in your office.”

Mike looked up, grinning, when Harvey stopped in the doorway, staring at him.“So, did you hear the firm’s got a new junior partner?” Mike asked, mock-innocent. “Just like Old Home Week, huh?”

“Get off my couch, hotshot, and put the baseball down,” Harvey said with a jerk of his head, but his lips were twitching so Mike counted it as a victory. “Why didn’t I know you were coming to work here?”

Mike hopped off the couch, setting the baseball back on its stand. “I forgot how picky you are about people handling your balls,” he said lightly. “And you didn’t know because Donna is wonderful and keeps quiet about some things. And I didn’t even need to ask her! I was so happy.”

“You're a little bastard, you know that?” Harvey said, rolling his eyes as he moved to sit behind his desk. Mike shrugged, crossing the room and leaning against said desk. He picked up a pen to toy with this time, grinning at the death glare he got in return.

“I am a little bastard, but I learned from the best,” Mike replied, flipping the pen over and under his fingers. “So, I heard you talked Scottie into working here too? Impressive, since the last time I heard from her I was seriously tempted to call you and warn you to be on guard against possible castration.”

That got him a deeply unimpressed look. Mike appreciated it much more than he had years ago; Harvey had always had a good unimpressed face, but it worked better with the slick suit and hair gelled to within an inch of its life than it had with a shaggy haircut and casual clothes. “She was working with a man willing to order murder, working for a man happy to cover it up. You think it was that hard?”

“I know you both too well to say anything except, _yeah_ , it was hard for you.” He tried to imagine the pair of them working together, and wondered what that would do to the arrangement they’d had going about sleeping together whenever Scottie blew into New York - or, one time, apparently, when Harvey had been in London, or so Mike had been told. “So, you and Jessica. Not fighting anymore, I noticed.”

“No.” Harvey’s eyes narrowed. “When I told you I was gonna push her out, offered you a job when I did - she’d already made you her offer, hadn’t she?”

Mike put the pen down. “Actually, no. Parris Senior was still apparently healthy as a horse. No one expected the heart attack, and I told you guys three years ago I owed the Old Man more than to just walk on him. His sons, on the other hand… Well, here I am.”

“And you’d better go,” Donna’s voice came over the intercom. “Unless you want to crash Harvey’s client meeting?”

“I don’t care if he wants to, that’s not happening,” Harvey said. “Shoo, kid. Go bother someone else. And keep the new glasses - you finally stopped looking like you were trying to convince everyone you were an old man.”

“See, now you’re just hurting my feelings.” Mike left with a laugh, though. Donna rolled her eyes at him as he walked past her desk with a wave. “Hey, where’s Scottie setting up shop?”

“Other end of this hallway,” Donna said, raising her eyebrows. “Paying her a visit next?”

“Well, if I don’t, my obituary will read I died from stiletto-heel inflicted wounds, probably.”

\---

Scottie’s office looked like Mike’s - only half-unpacked, that was. He leaned on the open doorframe, knocking on the glass door. “Time for an old friend, Ms. Scott?”

Scottie turned around from where she’d been opening a box, and crossed her arms as she stared him down. “Well if it isn’t Junior. And when did you get in from California?”

“Technically two weeks ago, but I got some time to find a place to live. You know, take care of the small details. You’re not gonna hurt me for not telling you, are you?”

That got him a little smirk. “Depends on why you didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t tell Harvey either, at least I kept it fair?” Mike offered, widening his eyes in his best innocent look. Scottie rolled her eyes.

“Don’t even try that look on me,” she said dryly. “It barely worked when you were eighteen, you really think it’s going to work at thirty? And stop standing at the door, either come in or go away.” She turned back to her box and Mike chuckled, coming in and dropping into the chair across from her desk.

“You’d be surprised how many people I can still fool with my boy-next-door act.”

“Well, you are the boy next door - the one who pranks half the neighborhood on Mischief Night.” Scottie sat on the edge of her desk, head slightly tilted as she looked him over. “You know, you keep wearing those skinny ties you’re going to get strangled with one.”

“By which one of you?”

“Whoever snaps first?”

“I’ll make sure to practice my dodging, then.” Mike tipped the chair he was in back so it balanced on two legs. “All banter aside, you sure you wanna work here, Scottie? I mean, I probably sound hypocritical as hell, I just took a JP position, but still. You were so close to name partner, and you and Harvey…”

“Are giving it a shot, actually,” Scottie said. “Yeah, I know,” she added when Mike raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t expect it either, especially with how we left things after the merger went through, but… Well. We’ll see what happens.”

Mike nodded, trying to ignore the twist of emotions. It was nothing new, after all; he was very, very good at ignoring it by now. “Well, good luck. Am I going to get referee duty again? Because I could use fair warning.”

“Very funny. And now it’s my turn. Why are you here? I thought William Parris was grooming you for higher places at his firm?”

Mike shrugged. “He was. But then he died unexpectedly, and his sons never much liked any of their dad’s mentees. So, we all kind of cleared out ahead of getting kicked to the curb. Politely. Andrew and Victor are always polite, but they’re also assholes. As soon as they took over, I put out feelers, and next thing I know, Jessica’s sounding me out. And here I am.”

"Here you are." Scottie shook her head. "Just like the old days. Think this place can handle all three of us?

Mike shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out. Either way, it’s going to be interesting.”

 


End file.
